Notre Dame women's basketball searched far and wide for a post option in the transfer portal. Head coach Niele Ivey finally found a mutual match in Pepperdine's Becky Obinma.
Notre Dame announced Thursday the graduate transfer addition of the 6-foot-2 Obinma. She's the second transfer portal addition of the offseason following Fordham guard Anna DeWolfe.
With the Irish losing 6-4 center Lauren Ebo due to expiring eligibility this offseason, Notre Dame's need for more size was quite obvious. Ebo, who joined the Irish last offseason as a grad transfer from Texas, averaged 9.0 points and 7.0 rebounds for Notre Dame in 2022-23.
The Irish will enter the 2023-24 season with four forwards on the roster: Obinma, 6-5 senior Natalija Marshall, 6-4 senior Kylee Watson and 6-3 senior Maddy Westbeld. Cassandre Prosper, a 6-2 sophomore, could develop into more of a forward as her career progresses.
Obinma averaged 6.9 points and 6.4 rebounds the last two seasons at Pepperdine. In 51 games, she totaled 63 blocks, 41 assists and 35 steals and shot 44.0% from the field. She plans to use her final season of eligibility at Notre Dame.
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“I’m thrilled to officially welcome Becky to our Notre Dame family!” Ivey said in a statement released by the athletic department. “Becky brings experience, athleticism and depth to the post position. She has a great motor and contagious energy on and off the court that will fit perfectly with our team. I’m looking forward to adding her post presence and speed in the open court to enhance our offensive capabilities.”
Notre Dame's short track record with inside players transferring in has been impressive. Before Ebo, it was Maya Dodson from Stanford, who was a 33-game starter in the 2021-22 Irish squad and averaged career highs in points (12.6), rebounds (7.3) and blocked shots (2.8) per game.
Most notably during the Muffet McGraw Era was the addition of Nebraska transfer Jessica Shepard for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. She averaged 16.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 76 games over those two seasons, helping the Irish two two Final Fours and the 2018 national title.
Obinma started her college career at TCU after being rated a three-star recruit coming out of Fullerton (Calif.) Rosary Academy in the 2018 class. ESPN ranked her as the No. 17 post prospect in that recruiting cycle.
TCU redshirted Obinma in her true freshman season. Then she played just 5.6 minutes per game as a redshirt freshman in 2019-20 with 1.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Obinma then transferred to Pepperdine, where she sat out the 2020-21 season.
Pepperdine, a member of the West Coast Conference, improved its record in each of the past two seasons with Obinma as a key contributor. When she sat out in 2020-21, the Waves finished 5-18. They climbed to 8-17 in 2021-22 and 11-19 in 2022-23.
The addition of Obinma puts Notre Dame on track to have 12 scholarship players on the 2023-24 roster with the portal additions of DeWolfe and Obinma and high school recruiting additions of McDonald's All-America guards Hannah Hidalgo and Emma Risch. ESPN's HoopGurlz recruiting rankings slated Hidalgo as the No. 1 point guard and No. 5 overall and Risch as the No. 8 guard and No. 20 overall in the 2023 class.
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